


We Drank a Toast to Innocence

by honeysucklepink



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Drabble Collection, M/M, if they have a line they get a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-09 05:18:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 2,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12880968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeysucklepink/pseuds/honeysucklepink
Summary: For the Klaine Advent 2017, I am experimenting with honest-to-God drabbling (100 words exactly). I really don't know where this will lead, except of course for a Klaine ending! Title is a lyric from Dan Fogelberg's "Same Auld Lang Syne."No one ends up unhappily married to an architect, promise.





	1. Attachment

Small town life...once all the gifts were unwrapped and the bellies were filled, the dishwasher was humming and the kids were zonked, and the older family members started arguing politics, there was usually an escape for those who were only in town for a while. One bar would open up Christmas night, and all the old high school classmates would meet up for drinks. 

Kurt’s phone buzzed with a text and attachment; a photo of a crowd at Breadstix. He pressed dial. 

“You have to come! Most of the glee club is already here!”

“Sigh...fine, Tina, I’ll come.”


	2. Bucket

When Kurt opened the door to Breadstix (after dodging the Salvation Army bucket brigade) he was hit with two things at once: a blast of warmth in contrast to the frigid cold of the outside, and the unmistakable laughter of a drunk Mercedes and Tina. He followed the sound until his eyes landed on familiar faces in the large round booth in the corner.

“Kurt! KURRRRRRRRRRRRTT!!!” A cacophony of voices called out to him; Mercedes and Tina of course, Artie, Sam, Kitty, Marley, and Unique. In a couple of chairs pulled up were Mike, and another man he didn’t recognize.


	3. Collapse

As Mercedes reached across the table to hug Kurt hello (to a chorus of panicked “ _whoas_!” as friends reached to rescue their pile of glasses from collapse), he got a closer look at the man sitting next to Mike. Dark, curly but gelled hair, a compact frame, and the dorkiest bow tie he’d ever seen. His eyes were like warm whiskey and honey, framed by lush, thick lashes, and Kurt could swear they  _ twinkled. _

He took Kurt’s breath away.

The gorgeous man held out his hand. “I don’t think we’ve met, I’m a friend of Mike’s. My name’s Blaine.”

“...Kurt.”


	4. Drink

Kurt pulled a chair up to the table and gave a passing waitress his drink order.

“And where are you from, Blaine? Not from Lima, I presume.”

“No, I’m actually from Westerville.”

“Huh, you’re not really far from home for the holidays. And you came all the way out to Lima to hang with a bunch of strangers?”

The twinkle in Blaine’s eyes dimmed slightly. “Honestly I figured you guys would be better company.”

“And what do you think so far?”

Blaine raised his glass to his lips. As he looked at Kurt the light returned. “So far, so good."


	5. Example

Kurt blushed at the implication. He was pretty sure Blaine was gay, _and_ flirting; years of living in New York had finely tuned his gaydar. Still, in Ohio you never knew.

“Psst,” Mike leaned to stage-whisper to Kurt. “Yes he’s totally gay.”

Kurt and Blaine both burst out laughing. “Aw, Mike, you gave it away! I wanted it to go longer until he asked!” He turned to Kurt. “Yep. Sterling example of a Gold Star Gay.”

Kurt smiled. “Good to know. So how do you know Mike?”

“Choreographer, for a show I’m doing soon.”

“Wait, wait...the _Steven Universe_ musical?”


	6. Fraction

In a fraction of the time it would have taken a normal pair of people to connect, Kurt and Blaine felt like they had known each other for years in just an hour of conversation.

“How have we lived in the same city this whole time and never met?”

“It’s eight million people, Kurt.”

“You were a theatre major and never went to Callbacks?”

“Eh, I was always more of a Marie’s Crisis guy.”

“Still, you’d think Mike would have told me about his hot gay friend from Ohio.” Kurt froze the moment he said it.

“...you think I’m hot?”


	7. Genuine

Blaine was looking at Kurt with a sense of anticipation. Kurt was about to say “well _duh_ ,” when he overheard his name.

“I’m sorry, what?”

Unique rolled her eyes. “This woman just walked in with a Louis Vuitton bag and Kitty swears it’s a fake. I said if anyone can spot the genuine deal it’s you.”

Kurt looked around. He saw someone around mid 50s but dressed like a 25-year-old. The suspect handbag was over her arm.

Kurt raised one brow. “100 percent fake. The hardware’s all wrong and the machine stitching is warped on the strap.”

Blaine looked impressed.


	8. Health

Eventually they were sucked into rowdier games.

“Okay, just for the girls and gays, let’s play Fuck Marry Kill, Arrowverse edition,” Artie said. “Green Arrow, The Flash, and, um, Guardian.”

“Wait, are we talking the heroes, or their alter egos?” Marley asked. “Because I just couldn’t marry Oliver Queen.”

Sam chimed in. “Kill Flash, only because I know Star Labs would figure out a way to bring him back. Or grab a healthy Barry from another Earth.”

“Fuck Guardian.” Kurt flushed warmly at hearing Blaine say ‘fuck.’ It gave him...well,  _ ideas. _ “Or Flash, so long as it’s Ezra Miller.”


	9. Inch

“Ho ho ho, hos!” Santana announced herself as she strode towards the New Directions’ table, Brittany trailing closely behind her.

Sam stood up to greet them. “Finally, what took you guys so long?”

“Lord Tubbington got into the eggnog, which did not agree with his tummy, so we had to clean up,” Brittany said. “Then Santana didn’t want to stop our lady kisses. Speaking of…” Brittany held up a sprig of mistletoe wrapped in an inch-wide ribbon. “Who wants to go first?”

A chorus of hoots and hollers filled the restaurant; Kurt shook his head, not noticing Blaine’s hopeful glance.


	10. Judgement

While Kurt shook his head in judgement, Brittany began to go around the table, like a Christmas Cupid. Kitty and Artie kissed quickly for old time’s sake; Tina grabbed Artie back for a kiss that resulted in shouts of “get a room!”

As Mercedes and Sam smooched, Brittany’s eyes landed on Blaine. “Oh look, another unicorn!”

Blaine looked up in confusion. “Are you talking about me?”

“Of course silly! And unicorn kisses are the most special of all,” she claimed, now waving the greenery over Blaine and Kurt’s heads. “They’re Christmas magic!”

Kurt shrugged. “Who are we to deny magic?”


	11. Key

Blaine leaned in, his eyes questioning; Kurt simply nodded and let his own eyes flutter shut before Blaine’s lips brushed against his. He smelled like cloves, vanilla and woodsmoke. Feeling brave, Kurt tentatively licked into Blaine’s mouth, tasting cider; Blaine whimpered and pressed forward, opening up, like a key turning in a lock.

Amid a few hardy wolf whistles, they pulled back barely, their lips separating with a small, wet smack. Kurt opened his eyes to see Blaine’s looking back at him warmly.

“How was that?” Blaine asked.

Kurt smirked. “That was something I want to do more of later.”


	12. Limited

"Hey Hummel, where’s Frankenteen tonight?”

“Santana, we haven’t been _teens_ in years, I think we can put away the nicknames tonight. And Finn is with his girlfriend’s family in Cincinnati.”

“Who’s Finn?” Blaine asked.

“My brother.”

“And Kurt’s first love,” Mercedes blurted.

“E-e-excuse me?”

“ _Oh my God_ ,” Kurt sighed. “What my drunk friend means is, I had a tragically misguided crush on him, long before he became my _step-brother.”_

“Ah, _step_ , okay then. Well I know a thing about misguided crushes. I serenaded a Limited manager once.”

“Was he straight?”

“No.”

“Well at least you had that going for you.”


	13. Mist

Soon they were comparing all of their crushes.

“I can’t believe you were a Twi-hard. Team Jacob, really?”

“It was really more Taylor Lautner, to be honest. And I couldn’t exactly go for Edward, he was nearly as sickly pale as I am!”

“I kinda had a thing for Pattinson. Well, Cedric Diggory. I still get misty when I think about his death in _Goblet of Fire_. Besides you’re not sickly pale, you’re beaut…” Blaine stumbled. “I mean, you probably take really good care of your skin…”

“Blaine…”

“...you’ll never get skin cancer...”

“ _Blaine!_ ”

“Yes?”

“Thanks for calling me beautiful.” 


	14. Nose

Over the din of crowded conversation and ambient noise, a familiar holiday tune began to play.

“Aw, Nat King Cole!” Blaine exclaimed. “Speaking of beautiful, this is one of my favorites.” As the strings led into the first lyric, he sang to Kurt. “ _Chestnuts roasting on an open fire; Jack Frost nipping at your nose..._ ”

Kurt smiled back as he joined in. “ _Yuletide carols being sung by a choir, and folks dressed up like Eskimos..._ ”

Soon it became an entire show choir alumni sing-along, but Kurt and Blaine barely noticed. As far as they knew, it was an intimate duet.


	15. Orgy

Kurt had been so caught up in talking to Blaine (and singing with him, and staring goofily at him), he was startled to look up and see Breadstix nearly empty, as staff were clearing tables and stacking chairs.

“Where is everyone?”

“Dude, it’s late,” Mike said. “Most everyone went home, after the virtual orgy of caroling nearly got us tossed.”

“Without saying goodbye?”

“You seemed, um, pre-occupied.” He looked knowingly at Blaine. “You ready?”

“Um...” Blaine looked hesitant, glancing at Kurt.

Kurt wasn’t ready to part ways with him either. “I can take you back to Mike’s, if you want.”


	16. Perform

As they made their way to Kurt’s car, Blaine stopped. “Do you mind if we just...walk around a while?”

“Sure,” Kurt said. “It’s not too cold.”

They followed Main Street, their footsteps the only sound. “I think this is my favorite part of the holidays, right at the end. No place to be, nowhere to perform. Everything’s quiet, but all the Christmas lights are still up. You know they’ll start to take them down tomorrow, but for now, it’s peaceful. Like it’s just for us.”

“ _Us,_ huh?” Kurt mused.

“Yeah,” Blaine replied, taking Kurt’s hand as they continued walking.


	17. Raw

They had roamed nearly every side street admiring the holiday light displays. Kurt’s hand stayed pressed in Blaine’s the entire time; in spite of the cold chapping their noses and lips raw, their palms were warm against each other. By the time they were back at the Breadstix parking lot they were much more alert. Blaine leaned against the car and pulled Kurt into another kiss, murmuring against his lips, “I don’t think I’m ready to go yet.”

“We don’t have to,” Kurt breathed. “I, um, might know another place. It may be open, but no guarantees.”

“Lead the way.”


	18. Stir

Kurt drove Blaine to West Lima and soon pulled in front of a small, run-down building, alongside a few other cars. A neon sign above flickered “Scandals.”

“It’s the local gay bar,” Kurt explained as they stepped out of the car. “I’m somewhat surprised it’s still standing.”

“Doesn’t look that scandalous to me.”

“I’m sure the name made sense in the 80s, when being caught here would cause a local gossip stir. I figured maybe they’d be open. The holidays can be awful if you can’t be yourself in front of family.”

Blaine nodded. “Well, let’s go be scandalous together.”


	19. Talk

They showed their IDs to the bouncer, Kurt thankful he could use his _real_ driver’s license. Scandals still had the small town mix of bears, twinks, and lipstick lesbians, unlike more specialized clubs in New York.

He and Blaine went hand-in-hand to the bar; as the music pulsed in the sparsely-populated space, Kurt noticed something different about it.

He gave the bartender their drink orders before asking. “You’re playing actual EDM? What happened to the 80s new wave?”

“Talk to the new owner,” he said, pointing to the end of the bar at a familiar face in a button-down.

_“Dave?”_


	20. Underline

Kurt shouldn’t have been surprised that Dave Karofsky now owned a gay bar; he was more surprised he liked dubstep. After an awkward introduction to Blaine as “my former high school bully” (the former very much underlined), they had a cordial conversation, even over the music’s volume.

Soon Blaine tugged Kurt’s hand as a David Guetta song came on. “Come on Kurt, let’s dance!”

Kurt followed Blaine to the small dance space. As they bounced with the bass and synth, they felt like the only two people in the whole room.

[_“When love takes over, yeah, cause something’s here tonight…”_ ](https://youtu.be/zudbz4hOcbc)


	21. Variation

When just dancing wasn’t enough, they decided to take a more heated variation back to the parking lot. Steam fogged the windows as they tangled in the backseat.

“God, I feel like a teenager after prom,” Blaine breathed wetly against Kurt’s neck, his palms hot against the base of Kurt’s spine, pulling his shirt loose.

“I wish,” Kurt grunted. “No prom date and I got named prom queen.”

“You... _what?”_ Blaine stopped. “Kurt, that’s awful.”

“I know, but it was years ago and I’m over it. Less talking, more kissing,” Kurt said, reaching into Blaine’s pants and making him moan.


	22. Width

They had long wriggled their clothes out of the way just enough so Kurt could feel Blaine’s width against his own. Blaine bit down on his shoulder as he came, his release shuddering through him. Kurt followed soon after, what little protective shell that remained shattered into a million tiny pieces.

They exchanged soft kisses in the glow of the neon until it flickered off. Kurt looked up at the dashboard display; it was late.

Blaine must have been able to read the disappointment on Kurt’s face. “I guess it’s time.”

Kurt gathered his senses enough to start the car.


	23. Year

Kurt pulled up in front of the Chang residence; it was nearly three a.m. but it still felt too soon.

“Any plans for New Year’s?” Blaine asked.

“Well, I do have an invite to Tom Ford’s New Year’s Eve party. Isabelle will skin me alive if I don’t go. You?”

“No idea. Got no time with rehearsals.”

“I...could use a plus one, you know.”

“Kurt Hummel, are you asking me out on a date?”

Kurt leaned over the console to kiss him once more. “When we get back to New York, I’m asking you on  _all_ the dates.”


	24. Zone

**One year later...**

_ I can’t believe I’m at Breadstix and you guys aren’t here? Hurry up! _

Rachel’s text jostled Kurt, who had been blissfully zoned out in Blaine’s arms. With Burt and Carole at a movie, they had the house to themselves. Bare flesh pressed together, the only material between them the engagement band on Blaine’s finger, cool against Kurt’s warm shoulder.

“Do you want to get dressed?” Blaine asked, kissing the top of his fiance’s head. “We can share the news?”

Kurt stretched his body over Blaine’s and smiled. “It can wait. No way we’re leaving this bed tonight.”


End file.
